


Compatibility Isn't Always Easy

by NikkiWolfe



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Depression, Drift Compatibility, M/M, Pacific Rim AU, Pining, Soulmates, self doubt, soul marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 23:30:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5517149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiWolfe/pseuds/NikkiWolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the WinterIron Holiday Exchange for @dreamcatchersdaughter on tumblr.</p>
<p>(Her Prompt: I really like pack dynamics alpha/omega AU’s (omega tony swoon), soulmate mark AU’s, daemon AU’s, the martian AU’s, modern tattoo/flowershop AU’s, and pacific rim drift compatibility AU’s.  So if any that inspires you I’d be overjoyed!  My only major dislikes are major character death and non-con.  I am a sucker for angst and pining, but I LOVE happy endings. Umm…. I think that’s all I think of, but if you have any other questions feel free to ask.  Oh! I am sucker for side pairings too, like nat/clint/phil or nat/darcy or sam/thor, sam/steve, sam/rhodey. )</p>
<p>So this is what I took from it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compatibility Isn't Always Easy

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I'm not totally happy with this but oh well. Here you go.
> 
> Also, this is not beta'd so any and all mistakes are mine.

“You broke another one!?” Tony groaned, rubbing his eyes. He fixed this pair's Jaeger more then anyone else. They always took stupid risks which results in damage to their mech. He understood the fact that it was a part of fighting the Kaiju's, but honestly how was he supposed to fix this kind of damage before more showed up?

“Sorry about that Tony,” Rhodey grinned at him. He knew his best friend would be grouchy no matter how many times he apologized. He had always been that way. It was one of the reasons why he was Tony's best friend. He always made things more interesting. “Anyway, have you heard the latest news?”

“There's always news around here,” Tony grumbled, getting to work assessing what he would have to fix on the War Machine. Honestly, what a ridiculous name. He believes that since he built it, he should be able to name it. But no it was up to the pilots to name their own Jaeger and sometimes they were just plain stupid.

“Well this news is huge. Okay listen -”

“I really don't have time for this Rhodey. I have to get fixing your Jaeger before the next attack so you can be ready,” Tony moved around his friend, running scanners over the damaged mech. He knew that Rhodey didn't mean to wreck it but honestly, couldn't he be more careful? He may be one of the only ones on this base that could fix a Jaeger in such short time but that didn't mean he would be able to fix it when they really needed him to. 

After all, that's not the real reason why they recruited him. Yes, he's a genius and can fix anything that is put in front of him, but he was also Marked. People who are Marked are destined to find that one person who is destined to be their soulmate. Not everyone gets them. In fact they are pretty rare nowadays. The Jaeger program tries to recruit any that they can find because if two soulmates enter a mech, they will have 100% drift compatibility which is very important for the mech to be able to work to its fullest potential. For example, Rhodey and his soulmate Sam pilot the War Machine and is one of the most deadly among the rest. They were just hoping that Tony's soulmate would come along so that they would have another pair. 

Tony wasn't feeling so optimistic. He didn't think that he would ever find his. Mainly because his soul mark had faded. When one gains their soul mark, it's white, bright and glows faintly. When they meet their soulmate, they have this overwhelming feeling of love and comfort. But if a soulmate dies before they can meet their soul mate, their mark fades. It becomes a dull grey, almost translucent. His mark, a snowflake that had several cracks in it as if someone had broken it, had faded to that translucent state. It was placed in the dip of his left hip. So Tony didn't have the same hope as the others that he would find his soulmate.

“I guess you don't want to know that they dug out the Winter Soldier Jaeger this morning then,”

Tony's head snapped around to look at Rhodey, who was smirking. Tony dropped all of his gear that he was carrying and rushed over to his friend. “Why didn't you start with this? Where did they find it? Where is it now? Is it still able to run? What about the pilot? I need to see it,”

“Whoa Tony, slow down. Geez.” Rhodey laughed at his friends over eagerness. He knew that Tony would be incredibly excited to see it. After all, the Winter Soldier Jaeger was one of the best ever made. Even though it's pilot's were not soulmates, they were still the best pair on the base, probably in the world. Then it went missing after a Kaiju attack. They searched but couldn't find any clue to it's whereabouts. They assumed that it fell into the rift. So it was no surprised that Tony was obsessed with it. “It's in the workshop waiting for you. The Chief wanted you to work on it to see if you can make it work again, since you are the best mechanic here.”

“They want me to fix it?” Tony knew that he was the best mechanic on the base, but to be asked to work on the legendary Winter Soldier was an honor. He was practically jumping in excitement at the opportunity. Rhodey was not at all surprised at his childish happiness. He has known Tony since they were children so he knew exactly how obsessed he was with Jaegers. “That's awesome,”

“Yeah, yeah let's go. You wanted to see it, right?” Rhodey led him through the halls towards a private hanger that housed the lost Jaeger. The commander had thought it would be best if they kept the Winter Soldier out of the public eye. At least for now. Tony was practically bouncing beside him asking a million questions. Where did they find it? How did they find it? What were they going to do with it after they fixed it? On and on the questions went, but Rhodey didn't have the knowledge to answer all of them. So he led the hyper man to the one person who could. 

Nicholas Fury has run this base for over a decade and has been doing a damn good job of it. Sure, there may have been a few moments of bad judgement but everyone here trusted him. Tony put up a farce of not agreeing with anything he says, but everyone knows that Tony actually trusts him which is rare. Tony has always found it hard to trust people. Fury always had a way with Tony and even though he didn't understand most of the mechanical babble that Tony liked to talk with, they always came to an agreement. 

“Ah Tony, there you are. I was wondering when you would get the news and rush down here demanding to get a look,” Fury looked the same as he always did, dressed all in black with a trench coat. Tony thought it to be a bit much, but to each his own right?

“Nicky, I was wondering why you didn't tell me as soon as you found it. I mean, I could have helped.” Tony was looking all around him, trying to get a peek at the Winter Soldier. They were in a room off the hanger, which Tony hated because he wanted to get to work fixing the Jaeger to make it operational again. 

“We handled it just fine without you. Plus, you were busy fixing the War Machine. That's our main defense while Clint, Nat and Phil are off to the headquarters.” He gestured for Tony to take a seat which automatically made him suspicious. He was expecting to be put to work immediately. He sat down on one of the chairs. Rhodey shook his head claiming that his co – pilot Sam wanted to do some training with him. 

“Well, I'm here now so why are we still sitting here?” 

Fury paused a bit contemplating his next words. He knew that he needed to be very careful with how he did this. He sat across from Tony and folded his hands in his lap. “The Winter Soldier was found near the Arctic Circle, frozen in an iceberg. It took a few days but we managed to dig it out. We discovered that it was not the only thing frozen in the ice. The pilots of the Winter Soldier was also found.”

“What? They're alive?” Tony couldn't believe that two people would still be alive after a decade in the ice.

“Rumlow died before we could revive him. His co – pilot, James Barnes, we were able to save. He is in a coma and the doctors are unsure when he might wake up.”

“He survived?! How? And why are you telling me this?” All these questions were making Tony wonder what the hell was really going on. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing. 

“Tony...” Fury paused trying to gauge how Tony would react to the news. He knew that Tony didn't even like the idea of this so to be told that his soulmate was lying in a coma in the medical ward. He sighed. Better to just jump right in it instead of drawing it out. 'Have you taken a look at your Mark recently?”

Tony frowned. That was not what he was expecting. He was expecting maybe a request to help make the Winter Soldier operable again. Not...this. He shook his head. “No. I've been kind of busy lately. I haven't had time to go back to my quarters in the last few days. Why are you asking me this? Why is this even important right now?”

“Tony, I need you to listen to everything I say before you freak out,”

“Why would I freak out? What aren't you telling me, Director?” Tony was getting edgy. He really just wanted to leave the room and get to work. He didn't like the direction that this conversation was taking. With the mention of his Mark, he had the urge to raise his shirt and take a look. This had always been a sensitive subject for him so now that Fury was bringing it up, it raised a lot of questions of what the hell was going on. 

“When we found Mr. Barnes, there were quite a lot of injuries, including his mechanical arm which had been destroyed. We also found his mark.” Fury paused at this giving Tony time to think.

Tony's eye's narrowed. The bad feeling that he had before was becoming more and more prominent. “So? What do I have to do with it?”

“We found it on his lower left hip.” Tony leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes. He knew what was coming next. “It was in the shape of a snowflake with several cracks in it. Just like yours.”

“So?” He muttered. 

“So? What do you mean? I assume that you might want to see him first before you get to work,”

“No.” Tony stood up. He didn't want to see him. He didn't want to meet him. He just wanted to work. Working always helped him think. It cleared his mind leaving him in this calm, collected mindset that he really needed right now. He moved over to the door, but was stopped when Fury grabbed his arm as he passed.

“No? Why not? Most people would be excited, ecstatic even to meet their soulmate,” Fury's questions made it seem like he was curious but his body language suggested that he had already figured him out. 

“Yeah well, I'm not most people,” Tony shrugged out of Fury's grasp, and walked out of the door. He didn't hear Fury follow him but he didn't care. He was done with this conversation. He wanted to work on what he had come here to work on. The Winter Soldier. He saw the Jaeger off on the farther side of the hanger. It looked magnificent. He nodded, blasted the music, and got to work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It wasn't until three days later that he finally pulled away from his work. He was hungry, and he had finished most of the preliminary work. He had run scans on the Jaeger and had discovered every problem that needed to be fixed. Most of it was superficial. Stuff that had fixed in the three days that he worked. There was one major problem though. There was a major shred cutting through the chest plate and cut through some of the major systems. It seemed that a Kaiju had gotten a lucky hit on him.

He was stinking, and dirty so he really wanted to head back to his room to get cleaned up. And to grab something to eat. He let the other mechanics know that he was leaving, and headed out. He tried to avoid people as much as he could. When he got to his room, the first thing that he wanted to do was to take a shower but he knew that if he let himself take a shower, he might fall asleep in it. So he threw himself down on the bed and buried his face in the pillows. He was asleep within minutes.

When he woke up, the first thing he noticed was the smell. He wrinkle his nose and pushed himself up. The room stank of grease, sweat and other mechanical smells. He moved over to the window and pulled it open. The cold breeze that filtered into the room made him shudder. It woke him up a bit, and it put him in a slightly better mood. He made his way to the bathroom, humming and old rock song that he couldn't quite remember the words to. He stripped along the way, leaving a trail of clothes on the floor. It didn't matter. He would clean up later. He turned the shower on hot and stepped in.

The hot water against his skin felt like heaven. He groaned softly and tilted his head back to let the water run over his face. He forgot how sore he would get from working for days on end. He really needed to stop that habit of his. It couldn't be good for him. Though he was never one to worry about himself too much. His friends did most of the worrying for him. 

A knock on his door pulled him out of his mind. He turned off the water and stepped out. He wrapped one towel around his waist and used another to dry off as he made his way to the door. He pulled open the door and grinned at his best friend who was standing there. He had his arms crossed and he was glaring at Tony. Tony tried to think back to see what he had done to gain his anger. Sure, he may not have fixed the War Machine personally but he did check on it's progress to make sure it was done right. And it was. So Tony was clueless as to what he had done this time. 

“What? I forget to add sparkly lights to your -”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Rhodey snapped, interrupting his sentence.

“Wha -” Tony blinked. Okay, this was getting serious. His friend was majorly pissed at him. “What do you mean?

“What do I mean? I don't know Tony,” He could hear the sarcasm dripping off Rhodey's words. Definitely not a good sign. “Maybe it's that fact that your soulmate woke from his coma two days ago and you have not been in to see him even once,”

At the mention of his soulmate, Tony's calmness was replaced with cold indifference. He hated the fact that even though Rhodey knew why he didn't like soulmates, he still expected him to go running to his when they found him. He would not. He would not be forced into a relationship with a person he was supposed to love because fate told them that they would be good together. Bullshit. He didn't care if they were perfectly matched. He wanted to be with someone because he chose to be with them.

“So what?” He turned and moved back into the room. He heard Rhodey follow him in. He felt that he was going to have the same conversation with him that he did with Director Fury the other day. He sighed in frustration but didn't turn back to his friend. He started to get dressed, pulling on some jeans and a black t-shirt. He could hear Rhodey pacing behind him. “Come on. Spit it out,”

“Why are you so scared to see him?”

“Scared?” Tony turned to his friend with a raised eyebrow. Rhodey thought him scared to meet him? He laughed at that. He wasn't scared. He wasn't.

“Yes Tony. I think you are scared of finally meeting someone who loves you even though you believe that you don't deserve to be loved. You don't want to burden someone with being their soulmate because you don't believe that you don't have any worth,” Tony opened his mouth to argue with him, but Rhodey sent him a glare that shut him up. “I think that you are scared of the commitment. You're also scared that you will ruin it if you do start a relationship.”

“That's wrong,” Tony finally protested but the thing was, he knew that Rhodey was right. He didn't want to meet Barnes because he didn't want to hold him back. After all if they did bond, Fury would want them to start trying to synchronize with each other. Which mean that every dirty little secret that he had, the other would know. He couldn't have that. His mind was not a place for other people.

“Is it Tony? Am I really wrong?” Rhodey didn't sound judging or condescending. His voice was soft, and quiet like he didn't want to startle Tony. 

Tony ignored him. He knew that he was being childish, but he couldn't deal with this right now. He just needed to focus on work right now. That was the most that he could do right now. He grabbed his Starkpad and headed out the door. 

“He woke up, you know. He asked for you,” Rhodey's voice followed him down the hall.

Tony paused for a second, but shook his head and continued on. He couldn't...he needed to get away from this place. Or at least get his mind away from this place. The only way to do that was to work. He would fix the Winter Soldier and make it operational. Then he would go back to fixing the others ones. He made a vow not to try and sync with another pilot. He would keep that promise. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The problems with the Winter Soldier were a lot serious then Tony had estimated. The problems lied much deeper into the system then Tony had gone the days before. This was going to take a lot more work then the shred on the front. He set the other mechanics to do the work on the shred, and set to work on the inner systems. The ice had gotten deep into the center and had eroded away the systems outer protection so the inner workings were left exposed. He would have to replace practically every system. It would add at least another week onto the original time. 

The more he worked the deeper into his mind he went. This was one of the reasons that he liked to work on complicated problems. He can remove himself from his surroundings. He developed this skill when he was a child. His father had told him that it was just him being lazy because he didn't want to pay attention. That might be the reason and it might not be. What he knew was that it has helped him cope with some of the harder parts of his life.

So he wasn't all surprised when someone managed to sneak up on him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped up. He turned around to see someone that he has never seen on the base before. He wasn't wearing the typical base uniform. Just a pair of simple jeans and a black hoodie. His eyes narrowed at the guy. He set his tools down and moved away from the platform that he was raised up on. He took a better look at the new guy and decided then that he liked him. He was tall, and broad but lean so he wasn't too muscled like Thor was. His dark brown hair brushed his shoulders and his silver eyes glinted with some mischief. This is the main thing that made Tony want to learn more about this guy. “Who're you?”

“Name's Bucky,” The voice was deep, yet soft enough that Tony didn't feel too threatened by him. Tony could see the beginning of a smile on his lips.

“Uh huh.” Tony chuckled. Bucky? Really? Who in their right mind would name a child Bucky? “I've never seen you around here before. You new?”

“No,”

Tony waited for him to elaborate though when he got nothing but silence, he sighed. Okay then. This guy was not much of a talker. He could work with that. “I'm Tony. And you have to be new on this base. I would remember seeing someone like you,”

Bucky laughed. It was a warm chuckle that sent shivers down Tony's spine. “Well, let's just say I've been away for a while. And what do you mean 'someone like me'? I can't be that bad of a person,”

Tony laughed along with Bucky. He felt a strange attraction to him and it didn't feel off like it usually did. Tony wasn't going to question it. This was just the kind of distraction that he needed. It would keep his mind off of the other stuff for a couple days. He placed one of his flirty smiles on, and gave Bucky a 'come hither' look. “Nah, you're not a bad person from what I can tell. I was just wondering what it is that you are looking for down here? Maybe I can help you find it.”

“That's alright. I've already found it,” Bucky looked amused at his attempts at flirting with him. Tony could tell that he was holding something back from him, like he knew something that Tony did not. Tony really didn't like this but he had no way to get him to tell. So he would have to wait it out. Bucky would tell him eventually. 

“Oh really? What exactly was it that you were looking for?”

“You,” It seemed that this guy was fond of one word answers. He didn't say why he was looking for Tony, only gazed at him looking him over as if inspecting him. Tony felt strangely unbothered by this. 

“Care to share why?” Tony pushed.

“Not really,” Tony sighed, tired of getting vague answers. Bucky could see that it was bothering Tony and he was rather enjoying it if the smirk on his lips were anything to go by.

“Why-”

“Tony!” 

Tony looked down to the ground and saw Pepper. She held a Starkpad in her hands and was glaring up at him. He grimaced. This could not be good. He shrugged at Bucky, and proceeded to climb down the ladder. He tried to act somewhat apologetic, but because he didn't know what it was that he had done exactly he didn't know how sorry he should act. Pepper may be on of his best friends but she is also one of the more terrifying people on this base. 

“Hello Pep,”

“Don't. You are not allowed to speak now. Just listen,” She said sternly. Tony held up his hands and nodded for her to go on. “Good. Now, I know that you don't like procedure, don't like following the rules but this is just unacceptable. How could you do something like this? I thought that you were a better person. Now, I'm not so sure anymore. How would you fell if someone did this to you?”

Pepper paused. Tony had expected her to continue her rant, but she was looking at him expectantly. “Can I speak now?”

“Yes! Please explain this to me so I can understand,”

“That would me that I have to understand first. I am pretty sure that I haven't done anything to make you this angry.” Tony shrugged. This is not the first time that he has gotten into trouble with her, though this is the most angry that he has ever seen her. He must have done something very bad for her to react like this. He thought over the last few weeks but could not come up with anything. 

“Your soulmate Tony! How could you not be there when he woke up. You had to have him come and find you,”

Okay, now Tony was even more confused. “What? Come and see me? Now one came to see me but....” Tony's eyes flicked up to the platform where he left Bucky but the man was gone. Could that really be his soulmate? Tony turned back to Pepper. “I don't understand. He said his name was Bucky.”

“That's his nickname. James _Buchanan_ Barnes. Geez Tony, did you even bother to look at his file at all?” She seemed like she already knew the answers to her own questions. Tony looked down at his hands, trying to act at bit guilty. Pepper sighed at Tony's guilt. This was what she had been expecting. After all, Tony was never good at relationships, nor was he good at being selfless. Many people don't see how much he gives up for this program, how much of himself that he loses when he loses his friends to Kaiju. Being a mechanic, he gets to see exactly how much damage a Kaiju can do. It also reminds him to be grateful every time pilots come back. Which is another reason why he doesn't want to become a pilot. He doesn't want to risk losing his soulmate to an attack. Pepper sighed again and pulled Tony close.

“I don't know what to do,” Tony whispered hugging himself closer to her.

“Just go talk to him. I'm sure things will work out,”

“I can't. What if I say something wrong? Or do something that offends him?” Tony's voice cracked at the end due to panic that was growing in him.

Pepper laughed softly, trying to soothe him. “When has that ever stopped you? Look, I'm sure that it will be fine. He's your soulmate and if he can't deal with the way you are he doesn't deserve you. Just let me know if he hurts you and I'll kick his ass.”

That pulled a laugh out of Tony. He had no doubt that she would. Everyone on base was afraid of the woman. He pulled away from Pepper and gave her a smile. “Thanks. You know, for this. I needed it,”

“You're my friend Tony and I care about you. Now matter how many time you forget it, I will remind you,” Pepper straightened his clothes a bit. “Now that you are done doubting yourself, are you going to go and talk to him?”

Tony shrugged. “Maybe. I just need some time,”

“You have had the last few days to do that,”

“Actually, I haven't. I have been spending the last few days trying to distract myself and keep my mind away from that,” Tony winced a bit at the glare she sent him. 

“Well, don't take too long. Or he might slip away,”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It seemed that Tony's soulmate didn't want to talk to him, or he was giving him his space because he was left along for the following week. He knew that he promised Pepper that he would talk to Bucky, but he just couldn't do it. Not yet anyway. 

Plus, he had quite a bit of work to do with both the War Machine and the Winter Soldier that it kept him busy. He didn't have much time to himself, though when he did it was filled with nothing but thoughts of Bucky. He kept doubting himself, doubting Bucky, doubting this whole soulmate business. After all, why would someone as handsome, funny, and interesting as Bucky, be with someone like him? There was no logic behind this, and it just fed his doubt even more. 

Many people had come to talk to him, either to congratulate him on finding his soulmate or just to see the Winter Soldier. He ignored most of them only talking to them when he had too. Even Rhodey and Pepper had come to see him, but he tried to avoid them. He didn't know how things were going to go but he couldn't do it. He couldn't bind himself to someone who would only love him because destiny told them to. 

While he was trying to keep an eye out for his soulmate and his friends so he could avoid them, he forgot that there was one other person who wanted to talk to him. Which is why it was so easy for Director Fury to sneak up on him. 

“I'm guessing you didn't get the memo,” 

Tony looked up from where he was pulling apart the inner workings of the Winter Soldier. He huffed a bit. “No, I've been kind of busy.”

“You're going to have to put that aside for now. You're coming with me,” Fury waited a moment before grabbing Tony's arm and pulling him to his feet. Tony made a surprised sound at the sudden movement. 

“Alright, alright I'm coming. Geez.” Tony pulled his arm out of the Directors grasp. “Lead the way to wherever we are going,”

Fury lead them through the halls and it wasn't long before Tony recognized the path. He stopped in the middle of the hall and crossed his arms, glaring at the leather clad man. “No.”

“You don't really have much of a choice. Order from above,” Fury sighed at the murderous look that Tony sent him. He had told the people at Headquarters that forcing Tony into this would not be the best way to go about this problem. But they gave him the order to do it, so he had no other choice. “Come on. It won't be so bad,”

“You don't know that,” Tony pouted. Tony could tell that the Director would not let him get out of this so easily.

“No I don't but you don't have much of a choice. Now are you going to come along willingly or am I going to have to go find Pepper?”

Tony's eyes widened a fraction. Pepper would be pissed that he was refusing to do this. He sighed, all fight leaving his body. “Fine whatever. Let's go.”

Fury nodded and lead him into the training room. There were two kinds of training rooms on base. One is the basic gym to help train in combat while the other helps train pilots drift together. The one they were headed into could only mean that the higher ups had gotten tired of him avoiding his duty of becoming a pilot. He slowed his steps as he approached the doors. He paused briefly but it was long enough for Fury to see how nervous he really was. He was smart and didn't mention it to him. 

Tony waited a few more moments before stepping inside. He wasn't exactly scared, but he really didn't want to do this. But like Fury had told him, he didn't have much of a choice. He sighed, grumbled and made a bunch of unhappy noises to make sure that the director knew exactly how unhappy he was about this whole situation.

“You don't have to be so depressed about this,” An amused voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see the smirking face of his soulmate. He looked pretty good despite having just woken up from being frozen in ice for a couple years. He didn't know who he was the last time they spoke so this was the first time actually seeing him as his soulmate. Tony studied the other man carefully, trying to see what had made him so unfortunate to be bound to him. From what Tony could see he was both well built and incredibly good looking. Tony could only wish to be like him. Sure he had some good looks, but he was also narcissistic, self-centered, egotistical and probably a bunch of other mental problems that he most likely had. Not to mention the long list of medical problems based around the arc reactor in his chest. Compared to Bucky, Tony was a mess.

Tony noticed that Bucky was also studying him. Tony could just imagine what was going through his head at the moment. It didn't matter much. He would know in a few moments when they drifted. 

“So, are we going to do this or not?” He was surprised that his voice remained even because he didn't feel calm in any way. 

“Sure, why not?” Bucky smirked at him. He seemed a lot happier to be doing this then Tony was. 

“Alright then. Let's get started,” Fury led him over to wear they kept the suits. Bucky was already wearing his. He hesitated a bit before pulling it on.

He must have been showing something because Bucky leaned in close and whispered, “It'll be fine,” before walking over to the training platform. Tony eyed him curiously and followed him. For people who had been avoiding each other for the last few days, Bucky seemed rather....okay with this whole situation. Maybe he was still suffering from being in the ice and still in shock. That would explain why he wasn't freaking out. 

At the moment though, it was Tony that was freaking out. He was going to drift with his soulmate. He was going to be able to see into his mind, and Bucky would be able to see into his. That was what he was fearing. That Bucky would see into his mind and see what he had done in the past. Then he would see who Tony really is.

He didn't realize that he had stopped until he felt a hand grab his. He jerked up to see Bucky looking at him in concern. He seemed to see something on Tony's face for he pulled him close and pressed a gentle kiss to his temple. “It's going to be fine,”

“You don't know that,” He grumbled. He didn't know why he was so optimistic about this.

“No, but with a genius like you, what could go wrong?” He gave Tony one last smile before pulling him along up to the platform. Tony let himself be hooked up to the simulator. He could see Bucky to his left and it just made him more nervous. He was really doing this. He watched as the assistants left the platform, apprehension growing in him. He heard the familiar sounds of the program starting up and he tried to relax as best as he could in this situation. 

When he felt the pull on his mind, he fought it for a second before giving over control. From what he had been told about drifting with someone, it was supposed to be amazing, to be able to connect on a deeper level to your co-pilot. This is not what he felt at the moment. He was seeing memories that were definitely not his flashing in his mind. He could see his own memories meshing with Bucky's, all of his worst memories coming to the front and it was becoming too much for him. Too much thought, too much feeling, too much of everything.

“I...I need out. Get me out,” He said, his mind and body starting to panic. He felt the familiar feelings of a panic attack coming on. He could vaguely hear the people around them rushing around, but he could not longer pay attention to them because he was free of the machine. He broke away from the platform and rushed out the door, where he slid down to the ground to place his head in his hands. His breath was coming in gasps, his chest hurt more then usual, and he was shaking. The only thing that was going through his mind was make it stop.

He didn't know how long he was sitting there before he became away of a presence next to him. He raised his head from his head to look beside him. Bucky gave him a soft smile. “Better now?”

“Why are you here?” Tony's voice was barely above a whisper. 

His question seemed to have confused him because he frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Are you here because Fury told you to, or because you think you have to because we are soul mates?”

Bucky's frown deepened. “I'm here because I was worried about you. Why do you always believe that people can't care about you?”

“Because they shouldn't,” Tony turned away from Bucky, feeling his eyes becoming wet. He would not cry here, not in front of the other man. “I don't deserve it for what I have done,”

Bucky was silent for a moment before Tony heard him move. Tony looked up to see that Bucky had moved so he was sitting right in front of him. He reached forward and cupped Tony's face in his hands before he he spoke again. This time he seemed to be more confident. “Do you know what I have been doing in the last few days?”

Tony blinked. This was not the question he was expecting. He shook his head, knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep his voice even. 

“I went around and asked people about you. What you are like. Do you know what they said?”

Again, Tony shook his head. He could imagine that it was anything good. Mainly because he seemed to piss off everybody on this base in some way or another. 

“They told me that you throw everything into your work, accepting nothing but the best. You build and create things for people so that they would be safe when they left. They said that yes, you may be pretty abrasive sometimes but at least you are honest. They said they you are probably the most selfless person on this base. You give everything and expect nothing in return. It wouldn't matter if we weren't soulmates, I would still love you,”

He wiped away the tears that Tony had cried and pulled him close so that Tony was in his lap. He wrapped his arms around him and buried his nose into his hair. “I know that you don't believe me now when I tell you that I love you, but I won't give up. I'm going to shower you with love and affection until you do.” 

This pulled a laugh out of him. Tony pressed himself closer to Bucky, sniffling. It might not have been what he was expecting but he guessed that he could live with it.


End file.
